Taking myself out of consideration for the director’s position was one of the most difficult decisions I had ever had to make, but I knew there was no other choice. I explained that I was having physical problems brought on by the emotional trauma I had been going through since November 22, 1963, and while I was capable in my current role, I felt that there were a number of men who were far more qualified than me to hold this important position. The secretary thanked me for my candor, and then asked for any recommendations I might be willing to provide. I gave him a few names—people I knew were well qualified and highly deserving—and walked out of the office.
I have never regretted that decision. I knew that I was in no condition to take on that important job. Not long thereafter, the assistant director for administration, H. Stuart Knight, was selected and sworn in as the new director of the U.S. Secret Service.
THE APPOINTMENT OF Gerald Ford to the position of vice president was the first time a vice president had been selected following the ratification of the Twenty-fifth Amendment. Even though Ford had not yet been confirmed by both houses of Congress as required, we believed he needed protection and decided to treat him like a qualified presidential candidate, promptly selecting personnel for the Ford Detail.
On November 27, 1973, the Senate voted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford as Vice President of the United States. On December 6, the House of Representatives voted 387 to 35 in Ford’s favor, and that same day he was sworn in before a joint session of Congress in the House chamber by Chief Justice Warren Burger.
It just so happened that Vice President Ford lived in Alexandria, Virginia, not far from my house. My oldest son, Chris, and his youngest son, Steve, were classmates at T. C. Williams High School. Chris and Steve both attended T. C. Williams during the time the school went through some highly publicized racial turmoil as segregation in the Alexandria school system was ending. The turmoil affected the football team and was later commemorated in the movie Remember the Titans. When our sons graduated in the spring of 1974, Vice President Ford gave the commencement speech.
After many years of debate and discussion, it had finally been decided that the government needed an official residence for the vice president—something I had been urging for years—and a bill was passed to that effect. There was a beautiful home on the property of the U.S. Naval Observatory that had been used by the Chief of Naval Operations since 1923. It certainly seemed more important that the vice president have a designated residence, so the Chief of Naval Operations was asked to leave, and the residence began undergoing renovations to make it a secure residence for the vice president and his family.
In the meantime, the Secret Service needed to secure the modest Ford family residence at 514 Crown View Drive in Alexandria.
The garage was converted into a room for use by the Secret Service, numerous phone lines were installed, bulletproof glass was placed in the master bedroom windows, and steel rods were placed under the driveway to support the armored limousine.
THE CHRISTMAS SEASON approached, and indications were that the Nixons would spend it in Key Biscayne. The president went to Camp David a few days before Christmas and returned to the White House on Christmas Eve. We had not been informed of any change in plans, but I found out on Christmas Day that he was planning to depart on December 26 for San Clemente, and he intended to fly commercial.
The press office pitch was that the president wanted to set an example for conserving energy, so he gave up the use of Air Force One for this trip and flew on a United Airlines flight from Dulles to Los Angeles. But it wasn’t just the president. It was him; his wife, Pat; daughter Tricia; the doctor; two military aides; and a number of Secret Service agents, along with 107 surprised regular passengers. No press were aboard, because they were not told until after the plane left.
Now, I knew that the military would be flying an aircraft out to El Toro Marine Corps Air Station to stand by to bring the party back or in case of emergency. That burns fuel too. What really got me was that he had been flying back and forth to Camp David on a daily basis by helicopter rather than just staying there. This stunt was strictly eyewash for political reasons, and we were left scrambling to ensure his protection on a coast-to-coast commercial flight.
Nineteen seventy-three had been a year that defied the imagination. So much had happened that no one could have foreseen: the resignations of the presidential staff and members of the cabinet; the conviction of a sitting vice president of criminal charges, and his subsequent resignation; and the swearing-in of the first nonelected Vice President of the United States. Like 1963 and 1968, 1973 was a year I was glad to see come to an end. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good feeling about what was ahead.
ON FEBRUARY 17, 1974, once again I was awakened in the early morning hours by the ringing of the White House phone next to my bed.
“Mr. Hill?”
“Yes?”
“Sir,” the on-duty EPS officer said, “sorry to disturb you, but a helicopter is buzzing the White House. We have identified it as a stolen Huey from Fort Meade. He is attempting to land on the South Lawn.” Calmly he added, “Do we have authorization to shoot at the helicopter?”
Without hesitation I said, “If it is threatening, you are authorized to shoot. Try to hit the rotors and keep it away from the house.”
I told the officer to give the command and keep the line open.
By this time, the chopper had flown away from the White House and was being pursued by police helicopters trying to force it down.
Then, suddenly, the officer said, “Sir, he’s returning to the White House.”
I heard the sound of gunfire as the EPS officers began shooting at the intruding helicopter.
“Chopper down, sir. Officers and agents on scene.”
I immediately drove to the White House and was pleased to see how the officers and agents had handled the situation. Fortunately, President and Mrs. Nixon were in Indiana at the time attending to their daughter Julie who had undergone emergency surgery. The pilot was injured only slightly and was taken into custody. We discovered the helicopter was piloted by Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled Army private first class who had flunked out of pilot training. He had been reassigned to helicopter maintenance and was doing this to prove his piloting capability. He was arrested and charged with wrongful appropriation and breach of peace, and was eventually found guilty and sentenced to one year in jail and a $2,400 fine. A few days after the incident President Nixon had some of the EPS officials and officers, as well as Maryland State Police officers who had pursued the helicopter, into the Oval Office to thank them for keeping him and his family, and the White House, safe.
IN EARLY MAY 1974, my sister Janice called to tell me that our mother, Jennie Hill, who was in a nursing home in Northwood, North Dakota, was quite ill. She had been in the nursing home for about a year, and at seventy-eight years of age was deteriorating rapidly. I was preparing to go see her when on May 19, Janice called again to tell me mom had died. Janice agreed to make the arrangements, and we decided on a funeral in Minot, North Dakota, where Mom had moved after our father died and where we had many relatives, which would make it convenient for everyone. After the funeral services, we would bring her back to our hometown of Washburn so she could be buried next to Dad.
I notified Director Knight of the situation and told Rundle what my plans were, but did not ask for any assistance. I flew from Washington to Minneapolis, alone, and had to change planes to go on to Minot. Waiting for me in the Minneapolis terminal was the SAIC of our Minneapolis office, Art Blake. He was going to accompany me to North Dakota. Resident agent Kent Jordan from Aberdeen, South Dakota, met us in Minot. They had everything arranged for me, and I was so very thankful to have friends and associates like these two men. Secret Service agents were supposed to be tough—and we were—but when your mother dies, even the strongest of men need someone to lean on.
AS SOON AS the Watergate Committee had learned about Nixon’s secret taping system, they had been trying to get Nixon to release the tapes. It had gone back and forth, back and forth, playing out on television in the living rooms of America. Back on November 17, 1973, in a televised question-and-answer session with four hundred Associated Press editors, the president maintained his innocence in the Watergate case and promised to supply details and more evidence from tapes and presidential documents. He defended his record, and when he proclaimed he had never profited from his public service, he uttered words that would haunt him for the rest of his days.
“In all my years of public life I have never obstructed justice,” he said. “People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I have earned everything I’ve got.”
By July 1974, Nixon had finally consented to release incomplete transcripts of the tapes, but he still refused to turn over the actual tapes. On July 8, 1974, I could hardly believe this was happening in our country, but the U.S. Supreme Court began hearings in the case United States of America v. Richard M. Nixon. Our president was a defendant in a case being prosecuted by the Justice Department.
On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court ruled that President Nixon must turn over the tapes by seven o’clock in the evening. At 8:00 p.m., there was a vote on whether to impeach President Nixon.
Three days later, the House Judiciary Committee adopted rules of impeachment against Richard Nixon. Before the full House of Representatives could vote on the matter, Nixon announced his resignation. On August 5, President Nixon admitted he held back evidence from the House Judiciary Committee, keeping it a secret from his lawyers and not disclosing it in public statements. And, he revealed, there were more tapes.
In taped conversations with Bob Haldeman on June 23, 1972, six days after the Watergate break-in, it was evident that Nixon clearly had directed the cover-up. The tapes did not implicate him in the burglary, but just as important, they contradicted what he had been claiming to be the truth.
On August 8, 1974, Nixon addressed the nation on live television and announced that he would resign the Office of the President of the United States at twelve o’clock noon on August 9. Vice President Gerald Ford would then be sworn in—the first person to become President of the United States not through the process of election but rather as an appointee.
I was among those standing on the lawn as President Richard M. Nixon and his wife, Pat, exited the Diplomatic Reception Room through the South Portico. Accompanied by Vice President and Mrs. Ford, they walked through a cordon of uniformed military personnel, rifles held at attention in salute, and approached the military helicopter.
Finally, President Nixon walked up the steps of the helicopter, and then turned around and threw his arms skyward with his fingers in his trademark “V” for victory sign. This time there was no cheering, no applause, no tribute—only tears from friends and staff who had gathered for the farewell. It was the sad end of an administration that had gone beyond the laws of the land and tried to cover it up. President Nixon was leaving the White House for the last time, and this time it was in disgrace. At Andrews Air Force Base he boarded Special Air Mission (SAM) 27000 to fly west to San Clemente, and at noon, as the aircraft passed over the heartland of America, the aircraft call sign changed from Air Force One to plain old SAM 27000.